University Press Releases

Wednesday, Sep. 30, 2009

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 30 – Former Arizona Governor and current Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano will give a speech on global security issues at her alma mater, Santa Clara University, on October 15 at 7:30 p.m.

Her speech is the kickoff event for the university’s annual President’s Speaker Series, and takes place on the first night of the university’s Grand Reunion weekend for alumni of various class years, from 1964 to 2009.

Napolitano, 51, was valedictorian of her SCU Class of 1979, where she majored in political science and later received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

As secretary, Napolitano manages a department with 225,000 employees, a $55 million budget, and a clear mandate: Keep Americans safe. Since being confirmed to the post by Congress in January, she has traveled to Pakistan, Mexico, Kuwait, Ontario, and Ireland to drive security efforts in shipping, transportation, cyberspace, and border security.

She was first elected as Arizona’s governor in 2002, and was re-elected to a second term in 2006, resigning in January to take her current post. As governor, Napolitano was instrumental in opening the first state counterterrorism center and led efforts to transform immigration enforcement. As secretary, she created the Homeland Security Advisory Council, which has recommended changes to the nation’s terror alert color-coding system.

“Secretary Napolitano is the perfect speaker to lead off this year’s President’s Speaker Series,” said Margaret Avritt, marketing director for the Office of Marketing and Communications at SCU. “She has her finger directly on the pulse of the theme of our 2009-2010 series: ‘Globalization: Boon or Bane?’”

About Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located 40 miles south of San Francisco in California’s Silicon Valley, offers its 8,758 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, plus masters and law degrees, and engineering Ph.D.s. Distinguished nationally by one of the highest graduation rates among all U.S. masters universities, California’s oldest operating higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. For more information, see www.scu.edu.